Council Moves to Make City's School Capacity Test More Flexible

The Gaithersburg City Council last night moved to relax some parts of their school capacity test, known as the Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance.

The ordinance now stops new development that would add students to a school, pushing that school to 110 percent or more above capacity.

Because of this policy—nine schools are at 110 percent or more—about 60 percent of the City is in a residential development moratorium.

But Councilman Jud Ashman proposed amending a single word in the ordinance that would give the council more leeway to make exceptions.

He proposed changing the word "and" in the City code Sec. 24-246 d ii to "or" which would require a project to meet only two of the three criteria for exception, instead of all three.

Several members of the council were also in favor of extending the student population forecast range from the current two years to something nearer to the County's five year outlook.

Originally drafted in 2007, the City's APFO is designed to make sure schools, roads, fire and rescue personnel and storm water facilities do not get overburdened by new development.

The APFO was supported by Ashman and Councilwoman Cathy Drzyzgula in their successful 2007 bid for the council.

On their 2007 campaign website, which is still active, they list the following as plank number four in their platform:

Gaithersburg must ensure responsible growth, which mandates that there are adequate public facilities, including schools, roads, utilities, and emergency services. Furthermore new development or redevelopment projects must be consistent with the Master Plan.

The County's APFO is much more lenient in several areas. For example, a moratorium on development is not implemented until then entire school cluster average reaches 120 percent of capacity—a practice known as capacity sharing.

Also, County rules say that developers have to start paying per-unit fees above 105 percent capacity. This helps "put the brakes on," according to Bruce Crispell, from Montgomery County Public Schools.

There was a recognition at the Work Session that the City's APFO, however well intentioned, had not worked the way it was designed to work.

Drzyzgula said that in 2006, as the APFO was being drafted, three schools in the City failed the capacity test: Rachel Carson Elementary School, Summit Hall Elementary School, and Thurgood Marshall Elementary School.

Five years later, she added, all three of those schools were still above 110 percent capacity and two of them had gotten worse.

In this year's review, two additional schools were added to the moratorium list, according to staff reports.

Judity A. Resnik and Gaithersburg Elementary Schools were added to the list. Eight of the nine schools in moratorium are elementary schools.

"Olde Towne, Kentlands Commercial District, and much of the Frederick Avenue corridor are in moratorium," staff reports say.

Gaithersburg Elementary was pushed over 110 percent because MCPS expanded a successful autism program to the school, adding more students.

Tom Rowse, a candidate for City Council who also happens to have a son enrolled in that autism program, has said he is in favor of significantly loosening the City's APFO, and would rather see something like the County's model in place.

"I think the County's model is the best thing we can do," he said at Monday's Work Session.

Jody Kline, a lawyer for the Rockville law firm Miller, Miller and Canby, said he represents a client who wanted to bring a development idea to Gaithersburg so good, he couldn't even say what it was in public for fear someone would steal the idea.

However, when confronted with the fact that the few residential units included in the project would not be allowed because of the City's APFO, his client could not even present the idea to city officials.

Kline urged the Council to add some sort of "safety valve" to the ordinance.

The amendment will go to public hearing—a date for which has not been set.

The City's Economic and Business Development Committee will also discuss the proposed changes at their next meeting, which will be on Sept. 16 at 7:30am in City Hall.